to
the appointment in Venice we shall be bringing “DiGiTalk”,
our most recent tool for information on the digital transition, which,
according to the MEDIA Salles tradition, is based on sharing the experiences
of those who have invested resources and competences in the new technology,
and on the publication of statistics that are as up-to-date and reliable
as possibile. Facts and figures available to those who wish to understand
which path the future of the cinema and the cinemas is taking. You are
also invited to take note of the dates for the next “DiGiTraining
Plus”, the unique training initiative which, since 2003, has been
guiding Europe’s professional players through the challenges and
opportunities offered by digital technology to the cinema industry. From
29 June to 3 July 2011, for the seventh time MEDIA Salles will be bringing
together those who have already experienced the change and those who wish
to meet the new scenario with the necessary awareness and knowledge. Elisabetta BrunellaSecretary General(Per
leggere il testo in italiano cliccare qui)

“MEDIA
SALLES AT THE 67th INTERNATIONAL VENICE FILM FESTIVAL”

During the 67th Venice Film
Festival, Elisabetta Brunella, MEDIA Salles Secretary General, will
present the 2011 edition of the course “DigiTraining Plus:
European Cinemas Experiencing New Technologies” on 4 September
at the initiative “ART CINEMA – ACTION + MANAGEMENT”
organized by the CICAE.

MEDIA Salles will made available its
most recent publication on digital cinema:

DiGiTalk

a streamlined volume that sums
up the main content of the course “DigiTraining Plus: European
Cinemas Experiencing New Technologies”, held last February,
together with a series of statistics and graphs on digital projection
in Europe and throughout the world.

Those were my thoughts two years ago when I started working as Production
Manager at FS Film Oy and found myself sending out ‘DC Readiness
Forms’ to theaters that had started to digitize at an increasing
pace. I had been taking care of 35mm print production and coordination
for most of my working career with different distributors in Finland,
but this was an unknown playground. Most of the terms on the readiness
forms were beyond my understanding and I was on thin ice.

However, I was lucky, having been in the business for quite a while and
having always had good contacts with the technicians dealing with the
new digital equipment in theaters. At the beginning I could always call
up one of them and they never seemed to get tired of even the most stupid
questions. It was also comforting to know that my colleagues at other
distributors were in the same situation as me. Sharing information has
always been one of the greatest things we cherish in the Finnish film
distributors’ small community.

The terms DCP and KDM were totally abstract until I made an excursion
to a projection booth to see what happens to the hard drive once it arrives
at the theater and how a DCP and a KDM meet. It helps to understand things
when you see them with your own eyes – even if it is something you
don’t need to learn how to use in practice.

Having learned from my own experience that the new terminology in a foreign
language may seem frightening at the beginning, I have tried to be of
help to theater owners in Finland who are trying to make their way through
the jungle of readiness forms from different studios. I have also tried
to be available for them if they have problems with receiving DCPs and
KDMs. I have found it very important to have someone to turn to when you
have a question and I must say that the people behind the impersonal title
‘keymanager’ have been very friendly and helpful.

Dealing with digital film distribution has not made me an IT-expert even
though I have learned a lot. Little by little the ordering and production
process of digital prints and trailers and KDMs along with the traditional
35mm material production have become routine procedures. This far I have
ordered digital material from one major studio and one smaller studio.
Within a year or so there will be more studios I’ll be ordering
digital prints from.

The people at the studios may also be dealing with a digital release for
the first time in their lives, so it is good to remember that this is
a learning process for everybody involved.
As soon as we think we know what we are doing, there will be a whole new
ballgame waiting for us. Time will tell whether it is called SmartJog
or something else.

It
is called “Spud” and is located in Driggs, Idaho, at
the foot of the majestic Grand Teton Mountains, has been in operation
for 57 years and is faithful to a 1950s style whilst placing the
odds on avant-garde technology: on 9 July it became the first truly
digital drive-in.
Unlike other drive-ins which use DVD, Spud has installed a Barco
projector with DLP Cinema technology and will soon be ready for
3D. The drive-in’s digital age began with a double feature
– ““Robin Hood” and “Despicable Me”
– which drew a record audience consisting of hundreds of cinema
fans.
Spud's Chief Operating Officer, Keith Zednik, commented: “Amazing,
like nothing we have seen before! The quality offered by digital
projection will allow us to operate for another fifty years at least.
We shall continue to offer films but develop to an even greater
extent an aspect that is characteristic of our drive-in, which is
also a centre for entertainment and sports initiatives and a favourite
venue for social events.”
John Fithian, President of NATO, the American exhibitors’
association, commented: “Drive-ins are an important part of
the cinema business. We are pleased to see that there are digital
solutions suitable for such big screens. We are confident that the
phenomenon will continue to flourish in the digital age and congratulate
Spud on being the first in America to offer their customers an experience
of this nature.”
Concerning the technical aspects, a significant statement comes
from Roger Bocket, owner of Heartland Theatre Service, the company
that handled the installation: “The result was better than
foreseen: if anyone had had doubts about installing a digital system
in a drive-in, Spud’s experience cannot fail to reassure them.”

THE CANADIAN EMPIRE THEATRES TO INSTALL
300 BARCO PROJECTORS Last
June Empire Theatres Limited, the second largest exhibition company
in Canada, with headquarters in Nova Scotia, signed an agreement with
Barco for the digitization of over 300 screens. Installation will
begin in the autumn and continue in 2011.
Empire Theatres, which has been in operation for over 30 years, possesses
50 cinemas for a total of 380 screens: of these 50 had already been
fitted with Barco projectors and equipped for 3D.
For the new order Empire Theatres has selected several models from
Barco’s Series II: the DP2K-15Cs, the DP2K-20Cs as well as the
DP2K-32B which can be upgraded to 4K, combined with a Doremi server.
Commenting on the choice, Valerie Ryan, Vice President for Empire
Theatres’ development and real estate, stated: “Barco's
wide range allows us to put the right projector on the right screen.
This means cost savings for the digital transition in our chain of
cinemas.”

Located in DeLand, Florida, Epic Theatres is
an exhibition company which, although far from reaching the huge
numbers of the leading U.S. chains, is experiencing a phase of considerable
development.
Founded in 1947 and operating in three states, at the end of June
Epic Theatres opened its seventh complex, bringing its total screen
numbers to 81. The new multiplex, situated at Palm Coast, Florida,
has been designed to offer digital projection and 3D on all fourteen
of its screens, which have been equipped by Barco. Clint DeMarsh,
Vice President of purchasing, announced that over the next 18 months
Epic Theatres will be opening another two complexes, also to be
fully digital.

This
column hosts portraits of cinemas in Europe and the rest of the
world which are quite different from one another but have in common
the fact that they have all adopted digital projection.

Country

Site

Town

Company

Number
of projectors

Projector

Resolution

Server

No.
of 3D screens

Supplier
of 3D technology

USA

Muvico Rosemont 18

Rosemont, IL

Muvico Theaters

18

Sony

4K

Sony

4

RealD

Muvico Rosemont 18

To
recreate the atmosphere of the ‘twenties “movie palaces”:
this is Muvico’s purpose in building the Rosemont complex
in Illinois, overlooking Chicago’s O’Hare airport. The
decorated façade, the marble and woodwork inside, the mediterranean
views “painted” on the side walls in the theatres are
intended to recall the luxury of the cinema’s golden age and
mark the difference to the contemporary taste of today’s multiplexes.
However, when it comes to technology, Muvico’s main aim is
to have the latest. Inaugurated in September 2007, this Megaplex,
seating almost 4000, is in fact the first that the Florida-based
company running a total of 154 screens in 9 different venues has
decided to equip entirely with Sony 4K projectors. “We have
been the forerunners,” says Ben Volpert, Senior Operations
Manager of the complex, “not only here in the United States
but in the whole world. Suffice it to say that it was to us Sony
delivered their number 7 projector, following the six installed
in Japan!” Obviously the offer of 3D is not lacking, on 4
screens fitted with RealD equipment including a choice of glasses:
one for adults and one for children. The 18 screens – offering
over 600 screenings per week – mainly serve customers consisting
of families and young people, only partly coming from Rosemont itself,
a town with around 5,000 inhabitants famous mostly for its hotels,
used by passengers at Chicago’s main airport. Spectators come
in from the suburbs of the Windy City using the subway – there
is a blue line stop only a short distance from the cinema –
or after a 10/20-miles drive. At
the Muvico they know they are going to find special comfort –
the seats are almost 4 inces wider than average – but what
attracts them most is the quality of projection. “We have
run surveys amongst our customers: a large number of them say that
the picture is far clearer in our cinema and the sound is better.
Maybe they can’t explain why but they certainly appreciate
the difference,” states Ben Volpert. This comes together with
an environment that is considered safe and reliable: parents arrange
for one of them to take a group of youngsters to the Muvico by car
and pick them up in a few hours’ time. In the meantime they
will have seen a film, enjoyed themselves in the digital games room
and eaten some popcorn or pizza. For those who are looking instead
for a higher quality gastronomic experience – not necessarily
linked to viewing a film – the Muvico offers the Bogart’s
bar and grill on the second floor. The greater prestige of this
area is marked by the change from carpeting to parquet, whilst on
the walls silent films run on digital screens. Here the restaurant,
seating 150, serves the “favorites” of U.S. cooking,
from Buffalo chicken wings to “penne pasta”. For those
over twenty-one the Muvico also offers a lounge bar with a wide
variety of cocktails and alcoholic drinks, including 27 different
types of beer, amongst which the Italian Nastro Azzurro. And if
all this were not sufficient to make the evening into a special
experience, spectators can opt for the “Premier Theatre”
version: leaving their car more or less at the threshold of the
cinema, a valet will deal with the parking and they will receive
free popcorn and be accompanied to the upper part of the theatre,
where they will view the film apart from the rest of the audience
from the comfort of soft “love seating” sofas. “The
average citizen is treated like royalty” was the promise of
the movie palaces in the good old days: for 20 dollars – instead
of ten – the “Muvico treatment” is still within
reach.

Created last year in order to
acknowledge the film that has made the most creative use of stereoscopic
3D, the Persol 3D award returns to the 2010 edition of the Venice
Film Festival. Awarded to The Hole, by Joe Dante, in 2009, this
is the first international award of its kind and confirms Venice’s
faith in the effectiveness of this means of expression.
“3D technology cannot be labelled a passing fad; fortunately
3D is here to stay,” declared Festival Director Marco Müller.

2010 will be remembered as the
first live 3D World Cup in history. In Europe, Open Sky, an Italian
company specialized in the distribution of digital content via satellite,
broadcast 25 games for a total of 75 hours live in 3D.
Around 400 cinemas in 21 countries were equipped with a satellite
reception kit especially for this event, an achievement requiring
a considerable technical effort, since 270 installations were completed
in the last two months.
The World Cup Final was broadcast simultaneously in 222 cinemas,
setting up a new European record.
“Open Sky used three AB3 satellite transponders, with commentating
in French, Italian and English and as well as technical efficiency,
set themselves the objective of improving the 3D filming and direction,
using a growing number of film cameras, which increased in number
event after event,” remarked Walter Munarini, the Company’s
Director.
“The best results were achieved in Italy thanks to the exhaustive
service provided: commentating in Italian, live advertising and
a turnaround teleport that ensured broadcasting on the final day,
despite a violent storm.”
The “first time” for a World Cup in 3D was a special
milestone in the history of alternative content for the cinema but
has not remained an isolated episode, since other important events,
both sports, such as the Roland Garros men’s finals, and music,
such as the “BIG4” concert (Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth
and Slayer) broadcast from Sofia in 120 cinemas, and the ballet
"La Petite Danseuse”, produced by the Paris Opera and
seen in 25 cinemas, were offered in the same period with the same
system, live by satellite in 3D.(Per leggere
il testo in italiano cliccare qui)

CINEPLEX SIGNS VPF AGREEMENT WITH XDC

Cineplex has signed
an agreement with XDC regarding the digitization of 451 screens,
using the VPF formula. The German company, which will be using Film
Ton Technik for the installation, also intends equipping itself
for 3D projection and the offer of live entertainment events.

Last
month, Kinopolis, the fifth largest exhibition chain in Germany,
announced that by 2011 all 123 of its screens would be digital.
The installation of the new systems will be handled by XDC and Film
Ton Technik.(Per leggere il testo
in italiano cliccare qui)

GERMANY – THE MINISTER’S
PROPOSALS FOR DIGITIZING CINEMAS

The
German Minister of Culture and the Media (BKM), Bernd Neumann, has
presented a proposal for encouraging the digitization of cinemas
in Germany and in particular to ensure that the transition to the
new technology will not exclude any of the existing theatres.

Following this plan the less
profitable cinemas, such as art house venues or those operating
in small places, will nonetheless be able to convert to digital.
Neumann places his trust the “Länder” to start
up similar programmes in a spirit of collaboration, so that distributors,
who are to all effects the greatest beneficiaries of the digital
transition, “are obliged to make their economic contribution.”
For the moment the BKM has already included four million euros in
his budget.
The new initiative should make it possible to overcome the stalemate
in which the German cinema sector has been languishing since 2009,
when disagreements between the parties made it impossible to start
up a nation-wide plan for the digitization of cinemas.(Per leggere il testo
in italiano cliccare qui)

OVER 500 DIGITAL SCREENS IN ITALYWhile MEDIA Salles elaborates the situation
at 30 June 2010, confirmation comes from Italian exhibitors that
the numbers of digital screens have continued to increase: at the
end of April they were beyond the 500 mark.
After a late start compared to other markets, in Italy the digital
transition experienced an authentic boom in 2009.
It is sufficient to recall that 80 digital projectors had been counted
by MEDIA Salles in Italy at 1st January 2009 , whilst
at 30 June the same year the number had risen to 183, then leaping
to 428 at 1st January 2010.
When communicating the figures at the end of April 2010, Paolo Protti,
President of Anec – the national association of cinema exhibitors
– stated that overstepping the 500-screen threshold is confirmation
that cinema exhibition is the key element in the Italian audiovisual
industry.
Carlo Bernaschi, President of Anem – the national association
of multiplex exhibitors - is of the same opinion: “Thanks
to digital even city theatres will be able to locate new directions
and strategies, from the possibility of offering quality programming
to the offer of alternative content.”
Looking to the future, Richard Borg, CEO of Universal in Italy,
thinks it possible that in the wake of this recent development,
complete digitalization of the Italian theatres will be completed
by 2012.
Lombardy and Lazio are the most digitalized regions in Italy, respectively
with 70 and 64 screens. Rome confirms its position as capital with
31 screens, followed by Milan with 18.(Per leggere il testo
in italiano cliccare qui)

CINEMADIGITAAL.NL LAUNCHED, TO SPEED UP
THE DIGITAL TRANSITION IN HOLLAND

The
announcement came last July of the creation of CinemaDigitaal.nl,
a body that will be devoted to simplifying and speeding up the digital
transition of distributors and cinemas operating in Holland.

CinemaDigitaal.nl arises out of the
joint forces of various organizations in the Dutch cinema industry:
NVB, the exhibitors’ association, NVF, which brings together
the distributors, and EYE, the national Film Institute.

It is estimated that the conversion
to digital will cost 39 million Euros, of which 6 million are allocated
by the State, whilst the remainder will be the responsibility of
the members of the associations constituting CinemaDigitaal.nl.

The importance of the project emerges
clearly in the EYE Film Institute’s press release: “Smaller
theatres, art house and independent cinemas as well as small distributors
of European art house movies have risked being excluded from digital
technologies, whilst on the other hand this innovation is exactly
what brings great opportunities for growth and variety of distribution
and exhibition.”

Thanks to the new project Dutch
cinemas should also witness simpler and more rapid access to 3D
programming and classics, as well as alternative content such as
opera, concerts and theatre.(Per leggere il testo
in italiano cliccare qui)

WORKSHOP ON DIGITAL CINEMA AT THE LOCARNO
FILM FESTIVALAs a new addition to the 2010 edition,
during its Industry Days the Locarno International Film Festival
hosted a workshop on the distribution of digital, organized by Europa
Distribution and CN Films.
The workshop, which was part of the EDCL (European Digital Cinema
Library) Project, promoted by the European Union’s MEDIA Programme,
was held on 7 August and attended by around 30 European distributors.
It concentrated on an analysis of the technical aspects of digitization
through the study of various case histories.(Per leggere il testo
in italiano cliccare qui)

HOW MANY DIGITAL
SCREENS IN EUROPE?

MEDIA Salles is now preparing the
situation of digital screens and cinemas in Europe at 30 June 2010.
In the meantime, there follows the situation at 1 January 2010.
This table slightly modifies the one published during the Cannes
film festival.